Norwegian 101: Oil riser platform jacket delivered
Photo: Morten Håvan
The Ægir oil platform jacket makes its slow way out to sea.
Heidi Håvan Grosch
Sparbu, Norway
North Trøndelag may not be (er kanskje ikke) the cosmopolitan heart of Norway, but out of it (ut av det) comes some amazing (noen fantastiske) and revolutionary (revolusjonerende) things. One of those is the construction of steel jackets (bygging av jacket) for oil platforms (oljeplattformer), built at Kværner in Verdal municipality (www.kvaerner.com). On Sunday, July 23, 2017, my Norwegian family and I (min norske familie og jeg) sat on the rocks at the edge of the sea (ved sjøen) to witness (for å se på) a never-before-seen event (aldri sett happening), history in the making (historie i opptaket).
Ægir is the name of (er navnet på) a large jacket (stor jacket) for an oil platform, which is like a giant foot (en gigantisk fot) to set things on (for å sette ting på). Resembling (ligner på) a large triangular tinker toy tower (trekantet tårn), it is one of the largest and heaviest (en av de største og tyngste) ever constructed (konstruert) and the biggest ever constructed at this site. It is definitely (definitivt) a feat of maritime engineering (en maritimteknikk) and was named for the old Norwegian giant (den gamle norske giganten) Ægir (pronounced Eye-Geer) who with his wife, Ran, lives in a magnificent hall (storslått hall) beneath the sea (under havet) as ruler of the ocean. Ægir is the gracious host, while Ran is the vixen, often credited with drowning sailors (å drukne sjømenn) at sea (på sjøen). Both are close to the gods (nær gudene) and entertain them (underholder dem) regularly at elaborate feasts (store festmiddager). It is fitting, then, that this colossal (kolossal) oil jacket is named after Ægir as it will welcome and support (ønske velkommen og støtte), literally, sea-faring platform workers.
This 26,000-ton riser platform jacket was the first major structure (den første store strukturen) for the Johan Sverdrup project, and is the largest to ever be constructed (den største til å bli bygget) in Europe for the North Sea. Two additional (ytterligere) smaller jackets (the Drilling Platform jacket and the Process Platform jacket, both to be completed in 2018 for this same project) are now in construction (er nå i konstruksjon) at the Verdal site. Ægir is the 43rd jacket Verdal has produced (har produsert) for offshore oil platforms over the last 43 years.
That Sunday in July, Ægir was being carried out (baret ut) to the North Sea on Brage, the longest, biggest barge (den lengste største lekteren) in the world (i verden) with a deck made of two-inch-thick (50 mm) steel plates (2-tommers stålplater). The flatbed (plattformen) was so large (så stor) you could fit two Titanics or three Hurtigruten boats on it—it measures 260 m long, 360 m wide, and weighs 70,000 tons.
So this marriage of the two was monumental. In fact (faktisk), it took a team of tugs (slepebåter) and other boats (andre båter) to manipulate (for å manipulere) this monstrosity out to sea while we sat there watching (mens vi satt der og så på). It went almost as quickly (det gikk nesten like rask) as watching ice cream melt (å se iskrem smelte) in a freezer (i en fryser), as the barge transporting the jacket hardly moved in the hours we sat there waiting for it to make a 180 degree turn.
Links (linker):
• Kværner’s Facebook page, which has additional images of the steel jacket’s trip out into the North Sea: www.facebook.com/kvaernerasa
• A video from Tronder Avisa newspaper on the transportation out to the North Sea: www.t-a.no/video/article15055549.ece
• A news article from the Tronder Avisa with a few more pictures: www.t-a.no/nyheter/2017/07/23/Her-forlater-Ægir-Verdal-15055526.ece
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 6, 2017, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
